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Definition of "infelicitous" [in•fe•lic•i•tous]

  • Inappropriate; ill-chosen: an infelicitous remark. (adjective)
  • Not happy; unfortunate. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "infelicitous" in a sentence
  • "But when the point of an interview is to convey information and ideas clearly, the motive to catch a subject saying something infelicitous appears bizarre."
  • "It's a sad statement about where public discourse is that, in response to this particularly infelicitous choice of phrase, the defense that is used is, "She has no real idea what any of the words mean.""
  • "Not only does this scene and violence occur at the dinner table, but the line of aggression that begins this infelicitous breach of dinner conduct is "I'll eat you alive, girl!""